"Sir William Bowles, your Excellencies, my Lords, and Gentlemen—It is very gratifying to me to comply with the invitation I have received to take a part in this day's proceedings and to preside at the opening of the new wing of this institution. The beneficial results attending the establishment of a Sailors' Home for our immense mercantile navy are shown by the statements and figures which you have now given, and which establish in the most satisfactory manner the necessity of adding to the original building. The interest taken by my lamented father in the religious welfare of this institution, evinced by his laying the foundation stone of the Seamen's Church adjoining, will not, I trust, be less in his son, who is well aware of the sentiments of loyalty and devotion to the Throne which distinguish the mercantile navy of Great Britain."
ROYAL DRAMATIC COLLEGE.
June 5th, 1865.
How much the Prince of Wales has, from early life, favoured dramatic art, and encouraged its professors, is universally known. While enjoying the drama for his own recreation, amidst more arduous labours, he has been always ready to support any well-devised and well-directed scheme for the benefit of the dramatic profession. It was with this feeling that he accepted the invitation to inaugurate and formally open the Royal Dramatic College at Woking.
There was a great gathering on the occasion, and the hall was well filled, principally by ladies, before the proceedings commenced. Mr. Webster, the Master of the College, having presented the Prince with a massive gold key, symbolical of the ceremony, and having read an address describing the objects of the Institution, His Royal Highness replied as follows:—
"Gentlemen—It is truly gratifying to my feelings to find myself this day called on to take a part in the final completion of a building the foundation of which was the work of my lamented father, as it was also an object which he had much at heart. My satisfaction is increased by finding his beneficent plan carried out in a manner worthy of the cause and of the profession for the benefit of which the Dramatic College has been instituted, and that, as the inevitable hour approaches, he who has so often administered to your amusement, blended with instruction, will here find a retreat open for age and its infirmities, in grateful recognition of a debt due by the world at large. I am happy to learn that the funds are progressively increasing towards conferring the inestimable boon of education on the children of men who, whether by their performances or by their writings, have themselves laboured so well in the cause of literature, and so justly earned this provision for their offspring. The inauguration of the building we are now in completes the three purposes which you have enumerated as forming the original design of this institution. After having provided for the material wants and comforts of those who are entitled to seek a shelter in this asylum, the last object is to cheer their evening of life, and to embellish its closing scenes with the books, memorials, and records of their art, that they may again live in the past, and make their final exit in a spirit of thankfulness to God and their fellow-creatures."
FISHMONGERS' HALL DINNER.
June 11th, 1865.
On the 11th of June, 1865, a banquet was given to the Prince of Wales by the Fishmongers' Company in their hall at London Bridge. Two years before, in 1863, the name of the Prince was added to the roll of the Company, so that on this occasion he appeared as a member as well as a guest. Allusion was made to this by the Prime Warden, James Spicer, who, as Chairman, proposed the health of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the rest of the Royal Family. Reference was also made to the recent birth of another infant Prince, so that there was prospect of two Royal members, who would in due time have the right of inscribing their names on their freemen's roll. Some of the Prime Warden's words are worth reproducing, as showing at how early an age the Prince had exhibited the traits of character, and the line of action, by which he has now so long been distinguished. The Prime Warden said that "he was not using the language of flattery, but simply recording a fact with which the people of these realms, from one end of the kingdom to the other, were conversant, when he said that the esteem and the affection with which His Royal Highness was regarded by Her Majesty's subjects were owing no less to his amiable manners, his kindly disposition, and the condescension which he invariably displayed in his intercourse with all the classes of the community, than to the exalted position which he occupied, and the relation in which he stood as heir apparent to the British Throne. There was another circumstance which had endeared him to the people of England, and that was that he had followed so closely in the footsteps of his ever-to-be-lamented and illustrious father, by lending his high sanction to the promotion of those industrial exhibitions that tended so much to elevate and improve the tastes and habits of the people."
The Prince of Wales, in acknowledging the toast, said:—
"Mr. Prime Warden, your Royal Highness, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen—I thank you very much for the kind manner in which my name and that of the Princess of Wales, and the other members of the Royal family, have been proposed and received. I need hardly tell you that it is a source of sincere gratification to me to be present here this evening; not only as a guest, but as a member—a freeman of this corporation. I have not forgotten that soon after I came of age the first freedom of any of the ancient guilds of this city with which I was presented was that of the Fishmongers' Company in 1863. I am proud also to think that I have been thus enrolled as a member of a company into which so many of my relations have been admitted, whose portraits adorn these walls. Although this is a joyous occasion, I cannot forbear alluding to the loss of one whose name is intimately connected with the city of London, Mr. Cubitt, who was twice elected Lord Mayor of London, and who was your Prime Warden three years ago when I took up my freedom in this company. I need not recall to your memory how anxious he was to promote every kind of charity, and I feel sure you will not think it unbecoming in me or inopportune to mention his name on this occasion. In conclusion, I beg again to thank you for the kind manner in which you have alluded to a recent event, and the cordial wishes you have expressed for the speedy recovery of the Princess. I can assure you my heartfelt wish is that my two sons may learn to emulate and follow the bright example of their revered grandfather."
SPEECH DAY AT WELLINGTON COLLEGE.
July 3rd, 1865.
On the 3rd of July 1865, the ceremony of distributing prizes at Wellington College was performed by the Prince of Wales, in presence of a distinguished company. The Governors of the College were in attendance, the Bishop of Oxford, the Earl of Derby, Earl Stanhope, Lord Eversley, Lord Chelmsford, Mr. Walter, M.P., and Mr. Cox. At the luncheon, which followed the proceedings in the large hall of the College, the head master, Mr. Benson (now Archbishop of Canterbury), having proposed the toast of the Prince of Wales, thanking him for his presence that day, and for the kind favour and interest with which he had uniformly regarded the institution, the Prince replied:—
"My Lords and Gentlemen—I am deeply sensible of the manner in which Mr. Benson has proposed my health, and in which it has been received by the company assembled here to-day. I need hardly assure you that it is a source of sincere gratification to me to find myself once more within the walls of Wellington College, taking part in the proceedings of 'Speech Day,' and distributing prizes to the successful competitors. Allow me, Mr. Benson, to congratulate you, and through you the whole college, on the highly efficient state in which I find it. I feel convinced that my young friends have not forgotten that it bears the name of one of the greatest soldiers England ever knew. In the success of this institution Mr. Benson has already mentioned, and I need hardly remind you, that the Queen takes a strong interest; a still greater interest was taken by my father, to whose exertions the college really owes its origin. I have now, my lords and gentlemen, a very pleasing task to perform,